The Starlight Foundation makes a very positive appraisal of Fitur 2021

After a particularly difficult period for the sector, the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) held its 41st edition last week in Madrid with the participation of thousands of professionals who,  health measures required, met in Madrid from 19 to 23 May. 

In a year in which sustainable tourism has become the essential way to recover the sector, the Starlight Foundation, as the main international promoter of astrotourism, has been especially present at Fitur 2021, with talks, meetings and events at which it has expressed the importance of star tourism as an engine for sustainable development, as well as the importance of its work in the protection of the night sky and the certification of territories.

Dark skies in Fitur 2021/ Credit: TdE

The director of the Starlight Foundation has met with the territories of Castilla y León, the Canary Islands, Andalusia, Aragon, and other international countries and she has participated in various talks. One of the most outstanding, her presentation for the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in which she explained the key role that the night sky, through astrotourism, can have for the sustainable economic development of the territories and launched the website of the I International Starlight Astrotourism Conference, that will take place at the University of Évora (Portugal), a UNESCO World Heritage city, between September 8 and 11, 2021 organized together with Dark Sky @ Alqueva and the University of Évora and with the support of UNWTO. Also important, the talk given as winners of the previous edition of the FiturNext awards, specifically, on the empowerment of women: Starlight Foundation promotes two projects in the feminine key, an initiative to make visible the role of women in rural areas and a pioneer program about how astrotourism can provide support to women in Pakistan.

Antonia Varela talks at FiturNext stage

Thus, the Starlight Foundation makes a very positive appraisal of its visit to Fitur 2021, where it has been able to verify that the astronomical path, which the entity began to mark more than fourteen years ago, is now followed by national and international territories, who already see in star tourism a sustainable recovery path for the sector.